Places I like to go

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Strange Boys here we come

Strange Boys, out of Austin, Texas, make an oddly compelling, bare-bones kind of blues rock that smoulders rather than flares up, insinuates rather than making a plain statement. My review is up at Dusted today.

Strange Boys make garage rock stripped to knuckle bones and gristle, reaching back way past the Beatles to a Chess Records-ish mash of high slide guitar, second-hand shuffles, and woeful, wandering laments. “Should Have Shot Paul,” croons Ryan Sambol, against a slack-jawed, southern soul beat, but really, you could have shot all four of the moptops and not made an ounce of difference in this blues-blistered, early rock sound. The Beatles just don’t enter into it.

My wallet got stolen yesterday…a minor pain in the ass, but capping off a couple of weeks of new depression anxiety for the future, boredom for the present and very little money-making activity. I’m going to try to get a new driver’s license today. Wish me luck.